""At the heart of WATKINS GLEN, Eleanor Lerman's wonderfully nuanced fifth novel, the burdens of time and place and family converge in the story of estranged siblings, a sister and older brother, reconnecting and coming to terms with a monster. Initially, this a Loch Ness-like monster imagined by the brother, who has developed Acquired Artist Syndrome and spends his days painting a nearby lake, but it's clear the real monster is Alzheimer's, the degradation of the brother's mind set against the rush of time and the sister's coming to terms with her runaway past and the need to care for her brother. What's beautiful about this book is Lerman's sure hand in presenting the stage by stage development through the ordinary human work of loving another--that is, attending doctor's appointments, paying late bills, being patient with growing levels of violence, of her brother being 'there,' then not there. Set in upstate New York, a place their family escaped to so their father could drag race when they were children, fast cars and open stretches of backroads are never far from the main character's mind where limits fall away and speed and hope and enduring connection (her brother beside her) are possible."--Dennis Hinrichsen" --cover page [4].
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